Elliot Page is Sinon in The Odyssey — the Trojan trickster you need to know

Christopher Nolan keeps stacking the deck for his take on The Odyssey, and the newest casting twist is a smart one: Elliot Page is playing Sinon. If that name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, that’s the point. It also says a lot about the version of this story Nolan seems to be building. Elliot Page is Sinon, not Achilles After months of guessing games that pegged the Canadian actor for Achilles, Page has landed as Sinon instead. It’s a curveball because Sinon isn’t a player in Homer’s Odyssey at all. He’s better known from later retellings of the Trojan War, especially Virgil’s Aeneid. Which is exactly why this casting matters. Who Sinon is, and why he matters Sinon is the Greek soldier whose smooth-talking sets up the most notorious prank in myth. He’s the guy who convinces Troy to wheel in that oversized wooden party favor. The classic version goes like this: After a decade of fighting, the Greeks pretend to bail, sailing off to the nearby island of Tenedos but leaving behind a gigantic Wooden Horse. Sinon hangs back on purpose, gets himself captured, and spins a sob story about the horse being a sacred gift to Athena. His pitch: if Troy brings the horse inside the walls, the city will be protected forever. The Trojans buy it, haul the horse in, not realizing Odysseus and other Greek warriors are hidden inside. That night, Sinon signals the returning Greek fleet, the soldiers pour out of the horse, open the gates, and Troy falls. What Page as Sinon signals about Nolan’s approach Because Sinon isn’t in the Odyssey proper, his inclusion is a pretty loud hint that Nolan isn’t sticking to just Homer’s text. He’s pulling from the wider Trojan War myth pool and likely stitching in the run-up to Odysseus’s journey home. In other words, expect a broader, blended retelling that folds in material from later classical sources instead of a strict page-to-screen of one poem. What Nolan’s Odyssey covers The film follows Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, trying to get home after the Trojan War. It’s the greatest hits tour: storms, sea gods with grudges, and detours through the monsters and immortals aisle. Think Cyclops Polyphemus, Circe, the Sirens, and Calypso. Back in Ithaca, things fall apart as suitors swarm his wife, Penelope, and endanger his son, Telemachus. Odysseus eventually returns in disguise and has to fight to reclaim both his family and his throne. Where Sinon might fit Nolan hasn’t spelled out how Sinon threads into the film yet, but Page’s casting points to a version of The Odyssey that opens up to the Trojan Horse and the immediate aftermath. With world premieres already underway, the rollout is still surfacing how all these pieces connect, and more character reveals are expected.

Elliot Page is Sinon in The Odyssey — the Trojan trickster you need to know

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